Books on the messiah

In a large Barnes and Noble bookstore yesterday, I saw a hexagonal-shaped table that was devoted to books on Barack and Michelle Obama. An entire table, piled high, like a saint’s altar covered with icons and images, with adulatory books on the Obamas. I was instantly reminded of how, during the 2004 election, in the new non-fiction books section of the same B&N store, there were about twenty titles demonizing George W. Bush.

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LL writes:

I happened upon this artistic ouevre shortly after the election and saved it, somehow knowing I would have occasion to share its majesty at some later date. And here you go, with your “Books about the Messiah” post, giving me an excuse to pass it on!

Something about that dumpy, incongruous little truss bridge juxtaposed with the unicorn and the roses and the brilliant, blinding sunbeam is just too much.

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LA to LL:

Great. Do you remember where this was posted, who made it? It’s so over the top it seems more like a take-off than something sincere, though evidently it is sincere.

LL replies:

It appeared on the politics board of a pop-culture discussion site populated almost entirely by hard-core Obamaphiles. If I recall correctly, the person who posted the image was himself of that ilk but was so amused by the extravagant hyperbole of the artwork that he provided it for everyone’s entertainment. A lively discussion followed of whether the object in the Anointed One’s hand is a monogrammed belt buckle or a cell phone.

The signature looks like “Kerr Nex,” but Google doesn’t yield any hits on that name. Why do you ask? Looking to purchase the original? ;-)

PS: I suspect it’s sincere. The original Elvis-on-velvet portraitist almost certainly didn’t realize he was being “ironic.”

LL continues:

Apparently, the artist is a Portland-based professional illustrator named Lukas Ketner. (I searched for “obama+portrait+unicorn+roses,” and voila!) He produced this piece for the cover of an alt weekly; his caption for it reads “Portland is in love with Barack Obama, all harlequin romance style.” So it is meant to be jokey, although judging from content of Mr. Ketner’s website the adulation is sincere. And ironic. Go figure.

Gintas writes:

“And I saw a beast coming out of the sea.”
— Revelation13:1.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at May 19, 2009 11:30 AM | Send